Okane, The Strong Woman of Omi, Stopping a Runaway Colt

Artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786–1864)

Datecommissioned for New Year 1834, Year of the Horse

MediumColor woodblock print

Dimensions8 1/4 × 7 3/16 inches (21 × 18.3 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Horses
Women
Poetry
Japanese

Object number2011.017.029

Label CopyTatsu haru wa Osanaki nagara Ume yanagi Mehanadachi yoku Miyuru medetasa With freshly risen spring Still young The fine features of buds and flowers Of plums and willows rise up A fortunate sight to see —Madonoya Maibito no Haru uguisu no Saezuri wo Furu su no take no Fue ni awasetsu The chirping Of the dancer A spring warbler Harmonizes with a bamboo flute Made from its old nest —Somanoya The first poem uses two natural elements, plums and willows, often associated with beautiful women, to play on me and hana, which could mean “buds and flowers,” but also “eyes” and “nose,” as in the phrase mehanadachi yoku (“to have fine facial features”). This would make the “pleasing vision” of the last line that of a woman, and specifically, as given in the image, the strongwoman Kugutsune Kanejo (Okane). Okane is depicted performing her most famous feat of strength: seeing a runaway horse while doing her washing beside Lake Biwa, she deftly stomps on its rope with her clog, stopping it cold in its tracks, all the while balancing her tub of laundry. It is difficult to find a clear connection between the second poem and this story, though if one imagines Okane personified as a spring warbler, twittering in surprise as she steps forward on the rope like a dancer, or perhaps her foot aligning with the rope like the warbler’s song and the flute in the poem, some parallels, albeit distant, can be found. Another possibility could be that the Okane story was acted out in a manzai performance such as the poem describes.

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